The school board of Seattle voted six-to-one on Wednesday that the classes should start after 8:30 a.m. so the students can sleep a little longer before attending school. The decision is based on the study that additional sleep can benefit the health and learning of students.
Seattle's school board is the largest district in the United States to implement this. District high schools in the area and majority of middle schools would begin classes at 8:45 a.m.
"We will become the largest district in the country to make this switch, and hopefully we will set a trend," Board Director Sharon Peaslee said, according to King 5 News. "This is a historic moment."
Classes will begin at 7:55 a.m. for nearly all of the elementary schools, four of K-8 schools, and Denny International Middle School. The other schools will start classes at 9:35 a.m.
Learn more about today's @seapubschools school board vote about proposed start times #waedu https://t.co/9nfDTpDpaQ pic.twitter.com/PDgkhofYBj
— Education Lab (@educationlab) November 18, 2015
The change in the school schedule has been as result of the movement of parents, teachers, and sleep scientists, with the support of teachers unions in Seattle, to adjust school time to the biological clocks of the adolescent students.
"The proposal to change bell times is the result of a research-based community initiative," the Seattle teachers union said, according to Seattle Times. "It will improve learning, health and equity for thousands of Seattle students."
Senior Project Manager for Seattle Public Schools Sam Marker says that the sleep researchers also observed the flow of traffic during the changes in bell time, since most parents have traffic concerns.
"They looked at traffic patterns, they looked at how that would change, what time would the buses be arriving and leaving, looking at standard city traffic, and showing that there will be some changes in traffic. But it would not have any major impact," Marker said, according to CBS Seattle.
